You took your family to a nearby restaurant. You were disappointed with the meal and wished to complain to the manager. Write a letter to the manager of the restaurant. In your letter: - Explain why you were at the restaurant - Describe the problems - Write about the action you want the manager to take
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writingwriting this letter to express my dissatisfaction with the quality of the food served in your restaurant, which I visited yesterday with my familywhere I paid a visit yesterday with my family.
I was lookingI have been looking for a special restauranta fancy place to dine with my familyspouse to celebrate the occasion of my promotion at work. My peers hadhave strongly recommended that I dine at your restauranteat out at your diner due to the scrumptious food and wide-ranging menuvast range of menu.
I must admit that I was thoroughly disappointed with my experience at your restaurantplace. The food took much longer to arrive after we placed our orderafter placing an order, andbut the vegetables used in the curry were stale and had a pungent odour. On top of that, the cake we ordered for the special momentthe cake ordered to enjoy the special moment was delivered in the wrong flavourin a different flavour.
Please consider this as genuine customer feedbackgenuine feedback from a customer and kindly look into the quality of vegetables used in the preparation of meals. In addition, servingsupport staff should be asked to be more vigilant while taking customers' ordersnoting down the order specifications from the customers.
I hope that you look into this matter seriously to avoid unhappy customers in the future.
Yours faithfully,
Why this response received Band 7.0
The complaint is clearly organised, appropriately formal, and supported with specific problems involving the delay, stale vegetables, and incorrect cake flavour. The requested action is relevant but somewhat general, since it focuses on future quality control without stating a concrete remedy for this customer. Strengthen the letter by requesting a specific response, refund, replacement, or explanation and by polishing a few awkward collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter maintains a suitable formal tone and addresses the occasion, the service and food problems, and actions the manager should take.
Make the desired outcome more precise by requesting a direct response or a specific remedy for the disappointing meal.
Coherence and Cohesion
The paragraphs follow a clear sequence from purpose and background to problems, requested action, and closing.
Improve the logical link between the delayed service and stale vegetables by replacing the inaccurate contrast marker 'but'.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally precise, with effective items such as 'stale,' 'pungent odour,' and 'vigilant,' despite some unnatural collocations.
Refine phrases such as 'vast range of menu' and 'order specifications from the customers' into more idiomatic English.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a good variety of complex structures with generally accurate punctuation and consistently clear meaning.
Review tense selection and noun-phrase construction, particularly 'I have been looking' and 'a vast range of menu'.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You took your family to a nearby restaurant. You were disappointed with the meal and wished to complain to the manager. Write a letter to the manager of the restaurant. In your letter:
- Explain why you were at the restaurant
- Describe the problems
- Write about the action you want the manager to take
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.